Coke oven battery



Dec. 29, 1931. BECKER I 1,838,294

COKE OVEN BATTERY Filed June 12, 1926 2 Shets-Sheet -1 A TTORNEYS.

Patented Dec. 29, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE JOSEPH BECKER, OF PITTSBTIBGH, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO THE KOIPERS COM- PANY, OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA COKE OVEN BATTERY Application filed June 12,

This invention relates broadly to composite gas mains and comprehends certain improvements especially applicable to the arrangement of gas feeding mains for by-product coke ovens, particularly those of the so-called combination type, that isa coke oven adapted to operate electively either on its own gas or on producer gas.

Coke oven gas is high in B. t. u. value and therefore finds a ready market for municipal use, the standard for such use being high. Producer gas on the other hand which is relatively low in B. t. u. value is not marketed for illuminating purposes, but since it can be used efiiciently for the heating of the fiued walls of coke ovens, and since it can be very cheaply produced at the plant from small coke and coke breeze, a by-product of little value, it becomes highly desirable to employ producer gas for heating the ovens, thus preserving the coke oven gas for sale; By reason of its low E. t. u. value, however, producer gas must be employed in much greater volume when used to heat the fiued walls than coke oven gas and therefore the mains employed for the latter are of insufficient capac ity for the former. Hence, the same mains cannot be used for both. The coke oven gas mains are usually located, together with the control and operating mechanisms, at the sides of the battery, but because of the limitations of space and the large sizerequired of producer gas mains it is usually a common practice to locate the latter in tunnels at the sides of the battery, the waste gas tunnels be ing located at the same level and parallel thereto but under the regenerators. It is frequently desirable, however, to locate the producer gas mains at the sides of the battery and above its base, as for instance, when they are used in a battery in which the waste gas tunnels occupy positions below the base of the battery but at the sides thereof, thus preventing the location of the producer gas mains there.

My improvement seeks to overcome the difficulty of locating the large producer gas main at the side of the batteryabove its base and consists essentially in making the'prolucer gas main and the coke oven gas main substantial interference 1926. Serial No. 115,449.-

component parts of a unitary structure preferably circular in cross-section whereby a minimum of space is occupied by them, whereas in prior practice they were separate structures. I may, for instance, locate the coke oven gas main in the interior of the cylindrical producer gas main and since the capacity of the former is relatively small the increase in the size of the producer gas main required to compensate for the coke oven gas main when distributed over the circumference of the larger main, is not very great, the increase in diameter not being of an order of magnitude to be of particular moment so far as the available space is concerned.

My invention is of particular advantage in converting an oven constructed externally for the use of coke oven gas alone into a combination oven because the necessary additions.

can readily be made thereto without a material alteration in the existing structure or with the operation of the oven.

While I have shown several desirable forms of my invention it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that it may be embodied in various otherforms within the broad spirit of my invention.

In addition to the general features and objects of the invention above recited the invention has such other improvements or advantages in construction and operation as are found to obtain in the structure and devices hereinafter described or claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification and showing for purposes of exemplification a preferred form and mannerin which the invention may be embodied and practiced, but without limiting the claimed invention specifically to such illustrative instance or instances:

Figure l is a transverse vertical section through the battery showing the relative arran'gement of coke oven gas main and producer gas main, respectively, at the sides of the battery.

Fig. 2 shows'a modified arrangementof the mains, and

Fig. 8 shows a further modified arrangement of the mains.

Fig. 4 is a composite of two sections taken on the lines aa and Z2-b, respectively, of Fig. 1.

The same characters of reference indicate the same parts in each of the views of the drawings.

Referring to Fig. 1 of the drawings there is illustrated a coke oven battery or plant of the well known Becker crossover type comprising a plurality of coking chambers 10 and intermediate crosswise elongated heating walls 11 provided with vertical flues 12 be neath which are the usual regenerator chambers 14 provided with brickwork and communicating with the fiues of the heating walls through ducts 15 and with the waste gas tunnels 16 by regenerator preheater waste gas exhaust connections or passages 17. Also commuicating with the fines 12 are the coke oven gas channels 18 provided with a nozzle 19 for each flue. Adjacent each side of the battery and above its base is located the usual coke bench 9 having the usual outer lower supporting uprights 8 so as to form.

with the sides of the battery the usual control mechanism alley 6 for the battery which alley is vertically and laterally limited by the height and width of the bench. Within the alley is located a small main 20 for coke oven gas, communicating through the valve controlled pipes 21 with the channels 18. In accordance with my invention I have shown in Fig. l the coke oven gas main 20 surrounded by the producergas main 25 com1nunieating through the pipes 26 and regenerator supply connections 7 with the bottoms of certain of the regenerator chambers, flow through the latter pipes 26 being suitably controlled by valves and reversing mecha nism as diagrammatically illustrated. The main 20 may be supported in any suitable manner in the main 25 as by welding them together on their tangential line of contact or by suitable braces 30, or both.

It will be apparent that the mains 20 and 25 for a given capacity of each will with this arrangement occupy a minimum of free space and that the slight additional increase in diameter of the main 25 in order to maintain its capacity while at the same time enclosing the main 20 is not very great for the reason that the increased area equal to the crosssectional area of the main 20 is distributed about the circumference of the larger circle.

In the operation of the device if it is desired to heat the walls by producer gas, which must be preheated, the controls in the coke oven gas pipes 21 being closed, the controls in the pipes 26 are operated to permit the pas-- sage of producer gas from the main 25 to the bottoms of the appropriate regenerator chambers 14 from which, after becoming prehcated the gas passes through the ducts 1.5 into the lines 12 where it meets incoming preheated air from other regenerators to effect combustion, as is well understood in the art.

In the form of my invention shown in Fig. 2 I employ a single large main divided into two are shaped portions 46 and 47, re spectively, separated by a divisionplate 18 extending throughout the length of the main which latter separates said main into two passages, one having the capacity required for the more voluminous producer gas and the other the capacity required for the less voluminous coke oven gas. The parts of the main and the division plate are connected by suitable flanges in a well known manner.

In Fig. 3 I have illustrated a still further modification in which the coke oven gas main is shown at 66 and the producer main at 67, the latter comprising an outer shell-like portion 68 and an inner U-shaped portion 69, the latter portion being adapted to substantially surround the coke oven gas main 66 and the free ends of the port-ions 68 and 69 being locked together to make a tight joint by the tie-rod 70 which passes across the main 66 whereby the parts are rigidly held in their proper relative positions and the free ends of the parts 68 and 69 are prevented from spreading. It will be obvious that this form of my invention may readily be applied to existing ovens provid ed only with coke oven gas mains without substantial interruption of their operation since it involves no substantial alteration in the existing structure of the coke oven gas main itself.

It can readily be seen that with all of the arrangements shown, any number of ovens can be operated with producer gas, while simultaneously the other ovens operate on coke oven gas.

The invention as hereinabove set forth is embodied in a particular form of construction, but may be variously embodied within the scope of the claims hereinafter made.

I claim:

1. In a combination coking oven battery comprising a row of coking retorts, combustion lines for heating said retorts, a coke bench located adjacent one of the sides of the battery and forming therewith a vertically and laterally limited control mechanism alley for said battery above the base thereof, regenerator supply connections located within said alley for effecting supply of regeneratively preheated combustion media to said combustion flues, regenerator waste gas exhaust connections for exhausting waste from regenerators in said battery, and a waste gas tunnel communicating with said waste gas exhaust connections and located to one side of the battery and below said alley, the combination of a producer gas main. of relatively large size for feeding a large volume of producer gas along said battery to be preheated therein in advance of combusill!) tion in said fines and located within said alley above said waste gas tunnel and above the base of said battery and extending lengthwise thereof, a coke oven gas main of relatively small size for feeding a smaller volume of coke oven gas along said battery for combustion in said fines Without preheating and located substantially within the general outline of said producer gas main and extending lengthwise thereof, and independent fiow connections located Within said alley and leading from the producer gas main and from the coke oven gas main to said regenerator supply connections and fines, respectively.

2. In a combination coking oven battery comprising a row of coking retorts, com bustion fines for heating said retorts by optional combustion in said combustion fines of either unpreheated gas or a larger volume of gas that has been preheated in said battery, a coke bench located adjacent one of the sides of the battery and forming therewith a vertically and laterally limited control mechanism alley for said battery above the base thereof, preheater supply connections located Within said alley for effecting supply of preheated combustion media to said combustion fines, preheater waste gas exhaust connections for exhausting waste gas from preheaters in said battery, and a waste gas tunnel communicating with said waste gas exhaust connections and located to one side of the battery and below said alley, the combination of a first gas main adapted for feeding combustible gas along said battery for delivery to said combustion fines for combustion therein without preheating, and a second gas main parallel to said first gas main and adapted for feeding a larger volume of combustible gas along said battery independently of said first gas main for delivery to said combustion fines so as to be pre-heated in said battery in advance of combustion in the fines, the gas means being located within said alley above the base of said battery and in juxta-position so that their resultant free exterior surface is less than the sum of their individual exterior surfaces and flow connectionsleading from one of the gas mains to said combustion fines and other fiow connections leading from the other of the gas mains to said pre-heater supply connections, said fiow connections also being located within said alley.

3. In a coking oven battery comprising a row of coking retorts, combustion fines for heating said retorts by optional combustion in said fines of either unpreheated gas or a larger volume of gas than has been preheated in said battery in advance of combustion in said combustion fines, a coke bench located adjacent one of the sides of the battery and forming therewith a vertically and laterally limited control mechanism alley for said battery above the base thereof, preheater supcated to one side of the battery and below said alley, the combination of a first gas main adapted for feeding the volume of one of said gases along said battery for delivery to said fines for combustion therein, a second gas main adapted for feeding the volume of the other of the gases along said battery for delivery to said fines for combustion therein and comprising a longitudinal member U- shaped in cross-section fitted about said first gas main and a second longitudinal member of greater width than the said first gas main and located on the side of the first-mentioned longitudinal member opposite that occupied by said first gas main and having the free longitudinal edges of the longitudinal members fastened together, the gas mains being located within said alley above the base of said battery, and flow connections leading from one of the gas mains for feeding the unpreheated gas to said combustion flues and other flow connections leading from the other main for feeding the gas of larger volume to said preheater supply connections, said flow connections being also located within said alley.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand.

JOSEPH BECKER. 

